National treasures: Ukrainian embroidered shirts

On May 18 my students have prepared a special project " National treasures", devoted to the Day of Ukrainian embroidered shirts, which we celebrate on the third Thursday of May every year.My girls showed the ornaments of Kharkiv region which are the  polychromatic designs made with half-cross or cross stitches.

An embroidered shirt( we call it 'vyshyvanka') for Ukrainians is more than  just an item of clothes. It's an amulet that brings together all the people who are proud of and respect  rich traditions of our nation.And by the way vyshyvanky are very fashionable today.

In Ukraine everyone could embroider in all regions. Each region had its own unique embroidery techniques.

So, let's have a little excursion into the variety of Ukrainian embroideries.

 

For Lviv region the main element was a flower which symbolized life and prosperity.

For Ivano-Frankivsk region the sign of svarga symbolized happiness.

For Cherkasy region the family tree symbolized family and life.

In Chernigiv region an octagonal star represented god and the sun.

In Vinnytsa region a caduceus represented evolution and involution.

In Kyiv there were hop, stylized grapes  on the embroideries.

Kirovohrad region had a very realistic designs if they embroidered  a bunch of grapes, it had got even shine and vine tendrils.

The geometric plants and geometric patterns were dominated in Luhansk region.

The traditional embroidered shirt in my native Poltava was usually embroidered with white thread surface technology.

In Chernivtsi region they embroidered especially flowered shirts.

A Rough thread in the technique of cross was used in Khmelnytsky region.

Shirts richly embroidered with floral ornaments in read and black colors were created in Kherson region.

The distinctive embossed pattern - these were embroidered shirts in Ternopil region.

Increadible black and white embroidered shirts were created in Sumy.
In Rivne they embroidered on a linen white canvas and there was a white main thread pattern.
Traditional Odessa Puhlyk shirts made from white cotton fabric.
Mykolaiv embroidered shirts were with specific collars.
In Zaporizhya  the shirts were usually adorned with embroidered floral motifs - flowers, viburnum and others.
People embroidered zigzag forms, so called "Doodles" in Zacarpatya.
Embroideries of  Zhytomyrwere small cross and rhythmic repetition patterns.
In  Donetsk region the shirt was decorated with openwork.
Sealing sleeves and neckline blouses embroidered with colored threads and black fleece in Dnipropetrovsk region.

So here it is, our beautiful, embroidered Ukraine!